So in an attempt to help enrich my quiet times and become more regular, and to get the writing practice I so desperately need, I'm going to try to blog some about my quiet times and what I'm thinking/learning. I originally posted this in the old blog, but it was being quite contrary that night, probably further proof of a need for a new beginning (don't we all have that need?)
I started on Romans today, 1:1-12. I have some thoughts that don't pertain to this at all, and some that do.
1.) Evan as Christians, we must remember the point is not to change so that we can be closer to God. We need to move closer to God and allow him to change us and remove that sin from our lives. The idea of "I have to handle this before I can have God time" is foolish and won't help fight the sin that is causing the problem. So often, I let my sin dissuade me from spending time with God. "Oh, I just did 'x', how can I possibly go spend time with God when I just did 'x'?" This is crazy. But sometimes it just makes me feel dirty (as it should, pointing out the fact that I am sick and am in need of a doctor) and instead of using it as a reason to run to God faster like a child needing love and reassurance, I let it keep me at bay.
2.) I have six months remaining in a journey I chose to take with God and while the real journey continues for beyond that, for life, there's still the fact that I've set aside this specific time for a specific purpose, one I don't feel I've been following hard enough but now I have much more of a "plan" for the "how" unlike I did then and I can't wait to live this next 6 months hard and really hit the heart of where I've been wanting to grow. It should be a wild ride and I can't wait to see where it takes me especially after.
Roman 1:5 Paul talks about "obedience that comes from faith" - to me, that sounds like he's saying, not necessarily that faith directly causes us to obey, but more like obedience is derived from faith. We are obedient to God because we have faith in him and that his ways are just and wise and he knows what's up.
1:8 Paul had heard reports of their faith. Say what? Dude is in like the 1st century, MILES away from Rome, and the Roman Christians are living their faith so hard that WORD has spread all the way to where ever Paul is, in Corinth or one of the other many places he's in? That's pretty crazy, and it's crazy that they were living life this hard with no "The Gospel of Jesus, according to blah blah blah" like us lucky 21st Century Christians had. All they have is word of mouth to go by. Crazy. And they're living so hard.
1:10 And paul is praying with all he has that he can someday see these people? (which will lead to his imprisonment and execution, but he'll get his chance to minister to them). That just goes to show how much Paul cares. He'd never even seen them before but he loved them because of the strong brotherhood Paul had in Christ.
1:12 My favorite verse here is in 12 where Paul makes a statement about about being encouraged by their faith. This is a lesson to all of us, that we should find encouragement from the faith of our friends and fellowship. We were meant to live in community with each other and help each other to walk the walk AND talk the talk.
and that's it for today kiddos!
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